Pellet Stove Recommendation

[rmn1993]

Hi everyone
No idea where to start here

I am looking for a pellet stove recommendation for my basement. I live in a one floor ranch with a full sized basement. Half the basement is finished, half is not. I am looking to put a pellet stove in the finished side. It is approximately 900sqft.

I would like a stove that can run off of a wall thermostat. I don't care about room temp control being precise. I need something that is reliable, can "set and forget" if I don't go down for a day or two. Likely, I'll run the basement at about 55F when not in use, and then bump up to 70F when in use. If it is in use often, I'll probably do 60 and 70.

Current this space is heated with oil in the winter, and it uses quite a bit of oil. I paid more for oil last winter than I have on wood for two years, just to heat the basement. We are going to work on insulating the finished side better for the coming season.

Let me know what you guys think, or a good starting point. I have been looking at option on the tractor supply and home depot websites, and may start perusing local hearth shops.

Thanks!

 

[bogieb]

I would absolutely suggest a Harman P43 or P61a. They are very reliable, easy to maintain, have large ash pans, are not picky about pellet quality, and can be run off a wall thermostat. I have a P61a in my basement as the only heat source and a P43 on my main floor (950 sq/ft).

Both are run off battery operated thermostats that are wired to the stoves' air temp sensor. The main floor stove is in my living room and I have the thermostat in my office. I set it at 69* and forget about it.

The basement is open floor but the stove is in the southeast corner and the thermostat is near northern side and set at 65-67* (depending on time of year. The thermostat is situated close the door to the garage, and behind the stairway that leads to the main floor. The P61a is overkill in my 650 sq/ft basement, but when I installed it, it wasn't (long story). I have thought about replacing the P61a with a P43, but in a pinch, I can keep the entire house "warm enough" should the main floor stove break or if I have a power outage and have to choose only one heat source to run off backup battery packs.

I have hopper extensions on both my stoves so I don't have to feed them every day unless it is the deep of winter. I'm in central, southern NH, in Hillsboro. If you are somewhat close, I would be happy to show you my setups and answer questions if you want (as long as you ignore the mess that is my basement - LOL).

 

[johneh]

The only thing I recommend is that you buy a North American built stove
with a good dealer network. Parts are easy to get and plentiful. Also buy
a stove bigger than what you think you need (more BTU) it is easier to
turn a stove up in deep cold weather than try to get more BTU out of a
stove, already maxed out Just my nickel's worth.